if you got a brain transplant to another body would you still be you inside, just inside a different body?

ps im a little medicated right now (jais know)

Cosmos Jack

04-14-2003, 07:58 PM

Kind of a common since answer to this. :rolleyes: All of who you are is in your head literally. So if your brain whitch is you was transplanted to another body you would still be you just with a new body....

C'jais

04-14-2003, 08:06 PM

Originally posted by Cosmos Jack
Kind of a common since answer to this. :rolleyes: All of who you are is in your head literally. So if your brain whitch is you was transplanted to another body you would still be you just with a new body....

Consider a fat man doing this transplantation.

I'm pretty sure being fat is part of who he is. Or maybe a black man or woman. Is their skin colour not part of their self-identity?

How about the "soul" of the person? Is it only a bunch of neurons in your brains? Is what's "you" nothing more than mere electrical impulses in your skull and spine?

...In that case, would it be possible to exist without any sort of physical form as an electrical signal?

Interesting.

Reborn Outcast

04-14-2003, 08:16 PM

Is it even possible to have a brain transplant? I've never heard of this happening so could someone fill me in on this?

C'jais

04-14-2003, 08:21 PM

Originally posted by Reborn Outcast
Is it even possible to have a brain transplant? I've never heard of this happening so could someone fill me in on this?

Not now it isn't.

It's a hypothetical dilemma. Just pretend.

Reborn Outcast

04-14-2003, 08:29 PM

Oh ok. :D

Well, since the brain holds all of your memories, then yes, I would say you would become a different person in MIND but not in body. Sure, the different DNA in the brain would tell the body to code certain preoteins differently, resulting in a change in some bodily features but all in all, your actual outward appearance wouldn't change to much.

Cosmos Jack

04-14-2003, 10:11 PM

"Reborn Outcast" I have no idea what your talking abou I think you need a brain transplant.
Originally posted by C'jais
Consider a fat man doing this transplantation.

I'm pretty sure being fat is part of who he is. Or maybe a black man or woman. Is their skin colour not part of their self-identity?

How about the "soul" of the person? Is it only a bunch of neurons in your brains? Is what's "you" nothing more than mere electrical impulses in your skull and spine?

...In that case, would it be possible to exist without any sort of physical form as an electrical signal?

Interesting.

As for you... "C'jais" Being black is a perception if your blind do you really know what being black or white is. All you know is by what people tell you, or fat if you're transplanted into a new body that is in shape you will you likely make it fat too, because that is your brain that makes you out of shape.. As for a soul or religions mumbo jumbo bla bla...

Your brain is like a pilot in a jet... the pilot is kept alive by life support systems and as well as controlling the same systems and the rest of the craft... I don't think of my body as being me I think of it as support element of the bigger picture..

ShockV1.89

04-14-2003, 11:45 PM

Cosmos Jack, I dont think I like you very much.

Back on subject... I think you'd be the same person, but different parts of your identity would change. I suppose you would have to reevaluate yourself and your own self-image, being that it had changed so much.

Very curious question....

-=ReApEr=-

04-15-2003, 06:41 AM

Well brain transfer isn't possible i don't think but face transfering is i think like Face-Off :D

C'jais

04-15-2003, 07:11 AM

I deleted a lot of posts because somebody in here has a very hard time sticking to the f*ckin' subject for once. No offence to anyone innocent from the beginning caught in this.

Now, to clear up a few misconceptions:

Your body would not, and cannot change to adapt to the new brain. The new body would remain the same. Your body is shaped the way it is from the minute you're born, and your brain's genetics cannot alter a new body in such a huge way - IE: a fat person's brain in a slim body would not cause the slim body to grow fatter.

C'jais

04-15-2003, 07:21 AM

Originally posted by Cosmos Jack
As for you... "C'jais" Being black is a perception if your blind do you really know what being black or white is.

Good point. You could apply the same to homosexual people - it's not a part of who they are, unless they somehow meet other people. They wouldn't suffer an identity crisis if they were simply kept in the dark with regards to sex.

But is being blind or deaf not a part of your identity, if you were so?

Your brain is like a pilot in a jet... the pilot is kept alive by life support systems and as well as controlling the same systems and the rest of the craft... I don't think of my body as being me I think of it as support element of the bigger picture..

Good analogy - I agree.

griff38

04-15-2003, 09:21 AM

According to Joseph Cambell the human consciousness is an expression of conflict between the various systems of the body.
I like every human I know of suffer from delusions of grandeur.
We all think we are super smart brainiacs. But however intelligent you are, no matter how much discipline and control you have you are still a slave to your body. I don't care if you have an iq of 200 + if you don't eat, the digestion system will overule your higher consciousness everytime. Don't sleep? Your body takes over, and there are dozens of other body systems that have as much control over you as your mind. The brain is certainly crucial but no more important than many other systems of the body.

Don't know who Joseph Cambell is? You really should, especially if you are a Star Wars fan.

Kuuki

04-15-2003, 09:57 AM

Originally posted by Cosmos Jack
Your brain is like a pilot in a jet... the pilot is kept alive by life support systems and as well as controlling the same systems and the rest of the craft... I don't think of my body as being me I think of it as support element of the bigger picture..

Yeah, I think most people actually would agree with you on that one. Good example. ^_^

Cosmos Jack

04-15-2003, 03:46 PM

Originally posted by griff38
According to Joseph Cambell the human consciousness is an expression of conflict between the various systems of the body.
I like every human I know of suffer from delusions of grandeur.
We all think we are super smart brainiacs. But however intelligent you are, no matter how much discipline and control you have you are still a slave to your body. I don't care if you have an iq of 200 + if you don't eat, the digestion system will overule your higher consciousness everytime. Don't sleep? Your body takes over, and there are dozens of other body systems that have as much control over you as your mind. The brain is certainly crucial but no more important than many other systems of the body.

Don't know who Joseph Cambell is? You really should, especially if you are a Star Wars fan. I would argue with you, but since in a round about way you supported everything I said just with a different conclusion I will leave it at that:D

ShadowTemplar

04-15-2003, 04:23 PM

No, I would not be the same person. Who you are is intimately tied to what your senses register, what your glands produce, ect. Even supposing that the brain wasn't rejected as foreign tissue, it still wouldn't be me, because I'd get a different sensory apperatus.